one of those pushing for obama is the man who chaired the democratic national convention, los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> uncertain whether you could hear me. let me ask you first, you're in iowa today for the jackson day dinner. the president spent a lot of time there. the latest polls show the president is still leading in iowa, but ever so slightly. so what more can the president do in these closing days to outpace mitt romney? >> well, what we're doing today is encouraging people to early vote. we're making sure the people get to the polls. we have a very extensive ground operation. i think there are like 67 offices or so in the state of iowa. field offices talking to voters, getting them to vote early, and getting them to go to the polls. this is going to be a very close election. i have said that for a long time. i never thought that this was going to be a landslide for us. it's going to be very close, but in the end, i think iowa and ohio and wisconsin are going to be our line, if you will. in the sand, and they'r